Friday, March 29, 2024

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葡萄樹傳媒

《星球大戰》的隱藏信息-I

I: Imperial Stormtrooper / 帝國士兵

喜歡《星戰》電影的朋友,總能在故事中找到自己喜歡的角色。然而,最受人歡迎的角色,可能是不同造型的白兵(Stormtrooper)。第一代的白兵的造型設計,是以日本幕府時代的士兵為藍本,演變成純白的裝束,襯托著象徵大將軍的黑武士(Darth Vader),畫面上勾起了黑澤明電影的強烈對比感覺。難怪黑武士和白兵的出現,很快就成了各地觀眾的「潮物」(trendy icons),而且歷久不衰。

第一次看《星球大戰》(Star Wars: A new hope)時,我有一個疑惑:為甚麼代表邪惡帝國的士兵都要戴上遮蔽臉孔的頭盔呢?難道這代表做壞事的人都不能以真面目示人!後來有一個畫面交代黑武士在眾多白兵面前走過,我才隱約明白,邪惡頭目只需要沒有個性的嘍囉,他們被訓練出來,就是要成為那黑暗掌權者的工具。故此,每一個帝國士兵都要被塑造成沒有靈魂的模樣。情形如同幕府時代的武士,只會盲目遵從將軍的命令。

世人如同《星戰》電影的白兵,被世界的華麗風光所迷惑,如同沒有靈魂的驅殼,跟隨世俗的彎曲悖謬而活。《聖經》《以弗所書》生動地描述人類這種境況:「那時,你們在其中行事為人,隨從今世的風俗,順服空中掌權者的首領,就是現今在悖逆之子心中運行的邪靈。」(弗2:2)我們要拒絕穿上這套表面純潔的軍裝,卻要穿戴上帝所賜的全副軍裝(參弗6:10-20),因為上帝所賜的軍裝帶有權柄,要我們無可指摘,誠實無偽,在這彎曲悖謬的世代,作神無瑕疵的兒女(參腓2:15)。

I: Imperial Stormtrooper

There is always a favourite character for each audience who loves watching the Star Wars movies. Perhaps one of the most beloved characters is the Stormtrooper. The design for the first generation of stormtroopers is based on the uniform of the soldiers of Japan”s Edo period. This white uniform is juxtaposed with the black one of Darth Vader. The black uniform is based on the military commanders” uniform of the Edo period. For those who watch Japanese movies, they can be reminded of the contrasting visual effect of the works of Akira Kurosawa, a well-known Japanese director. It is not hard to see why these contrasting yet complementing characters, Darth Vader and the stormtroopers, quickly become trendy icons.

I had a question when I first watched A New Hope: why do the soldiers of the evil Imperial Empire wear helmets that cover up their whole face? Is it because those who do evil cannot let others see their true face?

It only became clear when Darth Vader entered leading in front of the stormtroopers. It dawned on me that evil leaders need followers who have no personalities since they are merely tools that can be easily manipulated for evil purposes. Every soldier in the Empire was a soulless clone. This was similar to the Japanese samurais of the Edo period where they would blindly follow their commanders” orders.

People are like the Stormtroopers; easily manipulated by the world”s glamour and riches. People become soulless and live in the crookedness and depravity of the world. In the Book of Ephesians, gives a good example of this: “You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil-the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.” (Ephesians 2:2) We must refuse to wear the seemingly pure-looking white armour, but put on the “full armour” (Ephesians 6:10-20) that our Lord gives us. Only this armour can give us power to live clean and pure lives as children of God in a sin-loving and sinful world. (Philippians 2:15)

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